Polymeric coatings are used in paints, wood finishes, printed surfaces, photographs, floor care products, waxes, polishes, and the like, to coat and protect surfaces, regardless of orientation (e.g., vertical, horizontal, or otherwise).
Most floor care products require periodic application of a polymer-containing liquid floor care composition, which dries to a protective polymeric finish. The floor care composition is applied to a floor surface and allowed to form a film (coalesce) as the carrying solvent evaporates. Film formation desirably can occur at room temperature and the resulting film desirably can be removed if damaged or compromised. Good protective finishes exhibit resistance to scratching and scuffing, resistance to marking from shoes, resistance to liquids (including water), strong adhesion to the substrate, good gloss and transparency (e.g., lack of hazing) and the like.
A polymer composition capable of forming a polymeric coating can be in the form of one or more solid polymer materials dissolved, dispersed, or suspended in an organic or aqueous liquid. Many polymers used in floor polishes are developed or tailored to adhere to and protect artificial flooring substrates such as those made of synthetic materials such as PVC. Floor coatings that adhere to and protect not only such synthetic flooring materials but also cementitious surfaces including decorative concrete and terrazzo and other hard surfaces such as ceramic and porcelain tiles, natural and cultured stone, cement, marble, granite, and the like have strong commercial demand. Accordingly, polymeric floor care products are needed to protect and enhance appearances of these types of hard floor surfaces.
Upon application to such a surface, polymer finish compositions desirably produce a high gloss protective coating that is desirably durable, exhibits good adhesion to the substrate, and is free of deleterious cosmetic features such as haze. Unfortunately, application of many standard floor polish coatings to hard, high gloss surfaces such as granite, marble, and the like, results in dried coatings that tend to be hazy, possibly due to surfactant migration or poor adhesion, and that often exhibit unacceptable abrasion resistance, hardness, and/or adhesion.
Floor polish compositions often include one or more film-forming polymers dissolved, dispersed, suspended, etc., in a liquid medium. Although organic solvents can be used, water is the liquid medium of choice in most currently commercial polymer compositions. Because many polymers are insoluble in water, aqueous floor polish compositions must include one or more surfactants to keep the polymer particles dispersed or suspended. Other common ingredients include one or more crosslinking agents that can reversibly crosslink the polymer chains from which the protective film is formed, one or more material designed to aid in the flow, wetting, or leveling of the composition across the floor surface, one or more coalescents, plasticizers, and waxes.
Many types of polymers have been used in the manufacture of floor polish compositions and other polymeric compositions such as waxes, polishes, paints, wood finishes, and the like. Many such polymers include mer that include pendent aromaticity, e.g., vinyl aromatic mer and/or mer derived from one or more acrylic-type monomers. Floor polishes based on a styrene-butadiene interpolymers are described in U.S. Pat. No. 8,124,225 and U.S. Pat. Publ. No. 2012/0157595.